SASKATOON – District health board candidates would be lost in the crowd if those elections are held at the same time as other municipal bodies, says a report commissioned by the Saskatchewan government.
That’s one of the reasons why the government has accepted “in principle” the report’s suggestion to hold elections next year for the province’s 30 district health boards. The other is the boards’ desire to carry out plans and get more organized in their second year of existence.
Although elections to replace provincial health appointees were originally expected this fall, the report by Garf Stevenson, a former Saskatchewan Wheat Pool president, said that would be difficult due to the municipal elections.
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Avoid confusion
Stevenson recommended the health boards be elected in spring rather than fall when school board, town council and rural and urban municipal representatives are voted in.
“There’s some concerns about holding them at the same time as municipal elections because of voter confusion,” said Josephine Savarese of the Commission on District Health Board Elections.
Varying terms of office
Stevenson also suggested the health board representatives serve staggered terms so there is an overlap of experience. While his first suggestion is to elect four members in 1995 and four in 1996, Savarese said the province is leaning toward another option – electing all eight in 1995, but for varying terms.
Right now, the boards are all appointed by the provincial government. Eventually, each board will have eight locally-elected representatives and four provincial appointees.
Stevenson’s report also said the department of health should “continue to work with the tribal councils and Metis organizations to encourage participation on district health boards.”
If aboriginal candidates don’t want to run, the province should consider appointing them to the boards, the report stated.
“It is equally important that rural residents have a voice on district health boards,” said Stevenson.
“Concerns about urban domination were presented during the consultation process. Rural input must be facilitated by drawing ward boundaries to ensure that voters in the outlying areas are not disenfranchised. … While the ‘one-person, one vote’ concept is desirable, it should be flexibly applied to encourage the involvement of rural residents,” the report reads.
While women’s representation was raised in various meetings, Savarese said the commission decided special measures were not necessary because “we’ve seen dramatic changes in the participation of women in local government bodies.” She said half of all the health board appointees are women.
Verna Thompson is a member of the Rural Health Coalition, a grouping of small towns monitoring the province’s health cuts. She said people in the west-central area of Eston were “overwhelmingly disappointed” with the report. They had hoped for elections this October to restore the link with local people and remove the appointed board.
Eston waged an energetic campaign to prevent its hospital from being closed. While the facility is now a wellness centre, it has 24-hour staffing, something the town of Ponteix is suing to attain.
But that is only “at the moment.”
The province said the health centre will close as of Oct. 15, with eight-hour-a-day emergency care supplied by the nursing home, said Thompson.
